Sir,
India needs a new culture of opposition politics. In a democracy, opposition is supposed to play the role of a corrective role in the conduct of governance. ‘Corrective’ implies that it has to constructively intervene to correct the course. But unfortunately, opposition now means blind opposition to whatever the Government or the ruling party does. Opposition now means a certain antagonism bordering on hatred.
It is, however, heartening to see that some of the younger elements in Congress are showing the courage to express their support to certain actions of the Government that they feel are good and in national interest, irrespective of the stand taken by their party on those issues. So we have had Jyotiraditya Scindia supporting the abrogation of the special status to Jammu & Kashmir, saying it was long overdue.
The latest in the series is former Mumbai Congress chief Milind Deora, who hailed the Modi-Trump show Howdy Modi at Houston as ‘a momentous first for India’s soft power diplomacy’. He was perhaps reflecting on father Murali Deora, who in his lifetime was a big supporter of robust Indo-American relations. Milind also tweeted that his friends in the US acknowledge India’s leadership in the 21st century. His tweet drew unexpected support from the Prime Minister, who thanked Milind and spoke fondly of ‘his friend’ Murali Deora, who he said would have been happy to see the boost in the relations between India and the United States.
The opposition needs to find a more acceptable role for itself. Blind anti-Modi-ism and the obsession to do everything to prevent BJP from gaining strength won’t take the opposition parties, particularly Congress, anywhere. They have to contribute constructively to the process of governance and that is possible even as an opposition. For that Congress and the other opposition parties need to come out of their compulsive death wish and be more positive in their approach.
K Raveendran
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